


Willow, the Vampire Slayer

by GarrettCRW



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2002-09-20
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-10 04:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5571278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarrettCRW/pseuds/GarrettCRW
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Into each generation, a Slayer is born. One girl, in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of evil, and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer. And this time, it's...Willow?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"He-Hello?"

Willow walked timidly into the library, holding onto the hall pass she had just received, summoning her here. Not that she was afraid-she probably spent more time in the room than anyone else in the school. It was what she had heard about the new librarian. Granted, most of it was from Cordelia ( _Does she **have** to let **everyone** know when something doesn't go her way?_ ), but even Xander and Jesse were freaked by this guy.

And now she had to talk to him.

She walked up to the main desk, looking around for signs of life, which were quite absent. "M-Mr. Giles?"

Almost if by magic, a middle-aged man dressed in a tweed suit emerged from the book stacks. "I'm sorry about that. You must be Willow." Approaching the girl, the man seemed almost like an oversized teenager as he nervously walked to her, and shook her hand. "I'm Mr. Giles, and I have some important news to discuss with you."

"OK..." answered the young woman, now adding confusion to her already existent fear.

"Into each generation, a Slayer is born. One girl, in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of evil, and the swell of their numbers." After spouting the almost practiced words to the now skeptical girl, the new librarian added, "Willow Rosenberg, you are that girl."

"Me?"

"Yes, you," he affirmed. "The previous Slayer was killed last spring in Los Angeles. I'm sure you heard about the fire which leveled a high school gym at, Hemery, I think it was, correct?"

"Y-yes," stammered Willow, slowly becoming unable to process all of the information being given to her. "They said that some girl named Buffy started it, and was killed. What does this have to do with me?"

"You are no longer Willow Rosenberg, student at Sunnydale High School. You are Willow, the Vampire Slayer."

"No," declared Willow as she backed away fearfully. " **No**!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Rosenberg, but this is who you now are. This is your destiny." Giles had barely become this child's Watcher, and was already hating it. From what the Watcher's Council had given him, this Willow was completely unlike every other Slayer that he had read about. She was, for starters, a certified genius. Also, she was frightfully timid. Unlike most other Slayers, who were generally outgoing, popular young girls, Willow had but three friends in the world: another girl, Amy Madison, and two boys, Jesse McNally and Alexander Harris. The Harris boy had especially concerned the Council, as there were specific instructions on how to keep him from interfering with the new Slayer's mission.

But all that mattered right now was the girl standing before him, now in tears. "I-I can't be a 'Vampire Slayer'. Vampires don't even exist! Besides, I'm supposed to be in chemistry right now, helping Xander with our lab, and getting an 'A' so I can get a scholarship at some prestigious college."

"I wish it were true, but vampires *are* real, and you *are* the Slayer." Changing his approach, Mr. Giles asked, "Have you ever experienced moments of superhuman strength in times of great stress? Had dreams that mysteriously came true? Sensed great evil where none existed?"

Willow's face became pale as she remembered incidents where all of these things came true. She had broken Harmony's wrist when the lead "Cordette" (as she and Xander called them) pushed her in the hallway outside gym class three weeks ago. And her dreams had always come true. _Except the ones about Xander, that is,_ she reminded herself with a frown. And there were times that she would be enjoying herself at the Bronze when she'd suddenly become completely wigged out for no reason-so much so, that Xander would have to walk her home and spend the night, sleeping on the floor. "Oh, God, it...it's true. I'm going to faint now, OK?"

Her Watcher followed his job description and watched as Willow fainted, landing on the ground with a loud THUNK.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Willow," blurted out Xander as he saw his friend leave the library. "So, what happened in the library?"

"Oh, nothing," responded Willow, still in shock from learning that she was a Vampire Slayer. "Nothing at all. You know me; no excitement here."

Xander most certainly did know Willow-so much, in fact, that he could immediately tell that something was up. "You were gone for all of chemistry, Will," he said. "Besides, you're starting to talk too fast."

"Talking fast? I'm not talking fast! I'm talking at my normal speed, because if I were talking fast, that'd mean that I was nervous, and I'm not nervous, so I can't be talking fast." Once she finished, Willow looked at Xander, and her face immediately lost even more of its natural optimism. "I was babbling, wasn't I?"

"Uh huh. So," declared the boy, getting back to his question, "what happened in there?"

"I can't tell you, Xander."

Willow's statement hurt Xander deeply. So deeply, in fact, that for a moment he realized just how much he loved the woman standing in front of him. The moment was soon gone, though, but the pain still lingered. "Will, you've never hid anything from me before."

"I know," she answered remorsefully. "It's just that...this **thing** , it's come up, and you wouldn't believe what it was, even if I told you." She smirked before admitting, "I'm not even sure I believe it."

"Willow," Xander pleaded, becoming more and more afraid of his friend's grave tone. "I'd never doubt you. You're my best friend, remember?"

"I know. But this is different." The new Slayer looked at her best friend, the young man that she loved more than life itself, and said, "I'm going to be out most nights, now Xander, doing things that might seem strange you and Jesse and Amy and everyone else. But you have to remember..." Willow took in a deep breath before continuing. Even though she was now probably going to die some horrible death any day, she could barely muster the courage to reveal her true feelings to Xander. Why did this have to happen? _Why couldn't he have noticed me before? Why didn't I tell him this before?_ "You have to remember," she repeated, "that I love you. I always have, and I always will. But I can't be your friend anymore."

With that, Willow kissed Xander on the cheek, and quickly disappeared in the sea of students. He stood there for an untold amount of time, his heart broken and his soul shattered. _Something's wrong,_ thought Xander angrily as he clenched his fists, _and I'm going to find out what._

* * *

Willow walked through the cemetery with her Watcher, receiving tutelage while she patrolled. "So, let me get this right: the vampire sucks my blood, then I suck its blood, and then I'm a vampire?"

"That's correct," affirmed Mr. Giles, pleased with how well Willow was grasping the ins and outs of slaying. "And now, what kills the vampires?"

"That's easy," stated the Slayer. "Fire, a wooden stake through the heart, and beheading. Crosses, garlic, and holy water hurt them, but it's harder to kill them using that stuff."

"Precisely. I take it you had no problem reading the Slayer's Guide?"

"No," she lied, very much not in agreement with a lot of the things stated in the tome.

"Then you understand why you must separate yourself from your friends and family," replied the Watcher, making more of a statement than asking Willow a question.

"No," answered Willow, still raw from what she had been told to do to Xander. **Her** Xander. "No, I don't. I'm not even like any of these girls! They're all self-assured and popular and pretty, and I'm...me. I lost it on the first day of Kindergarten because I broke the yellow crayon! I can't do this without my friends, Giles. They're everything to me."

"And they would be in constant danger if you told them of your identity," he fired back sternly. "The Slayer is a conduit for mystical powers of untold strength. Vampires desire your blood in the hopes of gaining your powers. Dark mages wish to turn you to the dark side so that you may serve their evil purposes. By letting your friends know that you are the Slayer, you will expose them to these dark forces, who would see fit to use your friends in order to harm you."

"And maybe I don't care!" shouted the Slayer before turning her back to the older man. "Maybe I **want** my friends to be around. Maybe I don't want to have to push away my best friend, who I'm in love with, I might add, just because some vampire who wants to suck his blood anyways is going to try to use him for bait. And maybe I don't care about the stupid vampire that's standing behind you like some big mean person who thinks he's really cool because he gets to laugh at the sad little Slayer while she cries in front of her clueless Watcher."

Giles turned around reflexively and jumped when he saw, lo and behold, a vampire standing there, smiling and in full game face. He hit the Watcher, sending him flying into a headstone as if he were no more than a stuffed animal. "Hello, Slayer," replied the demon, looking upon the girl hungrily as she trembled before it with nothing more than a stake in her hand.

"Get away," warned Willow, "or I'll beat you up."

The vampire laughed at the Slayer's pitiful threat and charged. Much to Willow's surprise, she punched him with enough force to knock her foe backwards. The vampire chuckled as he regained his balance, announcing, "Perhaps you **will** 'beat me up', Slayer."

"Oh, shut up," sneered Willow as she gave him a resounding uppercut. The force of the blow left the demon dazed long enough for her to stake it.

Willow screamed loudly as the vampire exploded into a shower of dust. "Giles! What **WAS THAT**!?"

"Huh?" he asked, still sitting against the headstone, quite likely suffering from a concussion. "Oh, the vampire?" he asked in a "You-didn't-know?" tone of voice. "That's what vampires do when they are defeated-they turn to dust."

"OK," panted out the Slayer as she recovered from the exertion of energy, "so they turn to dust. That sounds like a vampirey sort of thing to do." Once she had returned to a state of rest, she went into hysterics. "I'm fighting vampires, and they turn to dust! I'm fighting **VAMPIRES**! I can't do this! I...I..." Then, Willow fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. "I can't do this! I can't kill vampires for the rest of my life! I don't want to! I want to be a normal girl, and worry about school, and worry about getting Xander to notice me, and...and..."

* * *

Some distance away, Xander watched in a state of utter disbelief as Willow, his Willow, killed the vampire. Then, when he saw her start to cry, Xander began to act, perhaps for the first time in his life. "Willow?" he said, standing up and walking towards her. "Willow!" he shouted, picking up his pace. "Will-oof!"

"Ah ah ah," scolded a female vampire as she tackled the boy. Dressed in a perversion of a Catholic school girl's outfit, she was both seductive and deadly. "No fair crying out for your girlfriend the Slayer."

"She's not my girlfriend!" hissed Xander as he struggled to free himself from the grip of this mysterious blonde woman.

"Sure," replied the vampire skeptically. "Because no one has ever used that line before."

Xander looked at this woman like she was insane. "I admit that it's a bit overused, but if you just let me go, we can settle this like reasonable adults."

"Oh, I'm sorry," replied the vampire, "but that's not how it works. You see, this is where I torture you for information, kill you, and them string up your entrails outside the Slayer's house."

As the vampire shifted into her game face, Xander gasped, and did the only thing a self-respecting man could do. He slugged the vampire, screamed like a little girl, and ran.


	3. Chapter 3

"Help!"

Willow jumped to attention when her enhanced hearing became aware of the distant cry. "Xander?"

"Somebody help me!" shouted the voice again, this time unmistakably belonging to Willow's best friend. Not just because it was closer (and thereby easier for her to hear), but because it added, in true Xander fashion, "Superman, Lois, Jimmy, Perry White, anybody, **help**!"

"Xander!" shouted Willow nervously. "Xander, where are you!?"

"Is this what you're looking for?" Willow and Mr. Giles whirled around to see a blonde vampire holding a squirming Xander by the collar of his shirt. "But you really have to ask yourself, 'Is he really worth it?' I mean, come on! He screams like a girl."

"Put him down," pleaded the panicky Slayer. "Please?"

"Or what?" hissed the vampire. "You'll stake me? Please. You've been a Slayer for like two minutes. I've been killing girls like you for centuries. We have a bit of an experience gap, and in my favor."

"Please put him down," requested Willow, who was now visibly shaking with fear and anxiety.

"God, you are pathetic!" announced the vamp, now clearly disgusted with her foe. "'Please let him go, Miss Vampire!' And your clothes! Been to the softer side of Sears much?" Bored with the verbal assault, the vampire said, "So, should I kill your boyfriend first, or your Watcher? Or, better yet, should I turn Squirmy here into a vampire so I can have lots of depraved sex with him for the next thousand years?"

"You do, and I swear I'll kill you," answered Willow darkly.

"God, what a moron!" replied vampire indignantly. "Hello, vampire here! I'm already dead!"

Willow, who was openly sobbing now, snapped. She responded with an almost instinctual anger as she said, "Put my friend down or I'll kick your skanky, pretentious, undead ass."

"Ooh, the nice girl is mad now," joked the vampire, doubting that this new Slayer could back up her bold threat. Turning her attention to Xander, she replied, "Your girlfriend sure is ugly when she's cranky, you know that, don't you? Wide eyes and flaring nostrils are so not attractive."

"Actually, I think she's kind of sexy when she gets upset," answered Xander with a slightly timid honesty. Realizing what he had just admitted to, the boy asked, "Did I just say that out loud?"

"Jesus," declared the vamp, the disgust practically dripping off her tongue as she spoke. "You're just as bad as Red here. Geeky, *no* fashion sense, innocent...and completely stupid."

"Excuse me," interrupted the Slayer. "You, me, fight...remember?"

"Oh yeah," answered the vampire. "Bring it on, sister." The vamp tossed Xander right into Mr. Giles, letting out a triumphant chuckle as both men were thrown into a large headstone, knocking them both out. "Well, that was too easy. So, what about you? Should I start cowering in fear before the almighty Slayer?"

Willow said nothing. Instead, she threw a punch that knocked back her opponent, leaving the vampire momentarily stunned. "Will you **please** shut up! We could have been done with this five minutes ago, but **no** , you have to talk. And talk. And talk. Please tell me that you weren't this annoying when you were alive."

For once, Willow's opponent was put off guard. "Well, what can I say? I like to play with my food."

Willow brought her fist up fiercely, clocking the demon right in the nose. "Yeah, probably not the best idea." She then stomped on the vampire's foot, further disorienting the demon. Willow then pressed her advantage, punching her foe in the stomach and following with a head butt.

Dazed and on her knees, the vampire gasped for the air she didn't need and said, "Wow, you're pretty good." The vampire recovered, however, with an uppercut that knocked Willow to the ground. "But it won't be enough, Slayer. The Order of Aurelius will rise and level this town, and there's no way you can stop it." With that, the blonde vampire ran off, leaving Willow to question what she had just been told.

"Um, hello?" called out Xander, who was trying to stand up. "Best friend with possible head trauma here..."

Willow shouted out Xander's name gleefully before rushing to him, smiling as she hugged him warmly. The smile soon faded, however, replaced with a scowl as the Slayer angrily hit her friend. "What are you doing here!? You could have been killed...or worse."

"I couldn't just let you leave me like that, Will," replied Xander. "I mean, you're my Willow, my best friend." Searching inside himself for a few seconds, Xander came back from his reverie, adding, "I guess what I'm saying, Will, is that I think that I'm, well, you know..."

"Yes, Xander?" asked Willow, now hanging onto his every word.

"OK," announced Xander, taking a deep breath before proceeding. "Willow, I know I should have realized this a long time ago, but I am deeply, madly, totally, head over heels, in lo-"

"Excuse me," replied Giles in an exceedingly British tone of voice, "but are either of you going to help me up?"

"Oh, murmured the Slayer. "Yeah." Willow and Xander each gave the librarian a helping hand, and soon the three were on their way. "Are you OK, Mr. Giles?"

"Quite alright, yes," he answered, "And you two?"

"I'm fine," responded Xander, "considering the fact that I was just attacked in a **cemetery** by a **vampire**!"

"Yes," replied the older man, "I could see how that would be disturbing."

"Disturbing!?" shouted Xander hysterically. "I almost got killed by a vampire! A vampire my best friend just beat the crap out of before it ran off bragged about some order of whatsits! That isn't just disturbing, that's insane!" After the initial shock faded, Xander finally realized the full gravity of the situation. Unsurprisingly, all emotion drained from his face as he whispered, "Willow, I almost died."

"Almost," echoed Willow gravely.

"You saved my life, Will," said Xander as he embraced the Slayer. "How can I ever repay you?"

"Well," replied Willow as a devilish grin emerged on her face, "you could always take me out on a date tomorrow night..."

Xander gulped loudly. "A date?"

"Yes, a date," answered the Slayer, giving him her most innocent and charming smile in response to his question. "You know, that thing two people do when they decide that the like each other, and like being friends with each other, but decide that they like each other more, and possibly in a way that leads to kissing and groping?"

Xander began stammering furiously, clearly outclassed by Willow's surprisingly enticing argument. Giles, however, was perfectly capable of coherent speech, and he had more than enough to say, to boot. "Willow, as the Slayer, it is your duty to ensure the safety of Sunnydale by patrolling nightly, a-and not running around, chasing boys."

"I read the handbook, Giles," replied Willow.

"There's a handbook?" asked Xander.

"Yes," announced Giles. "And one of the most important concepts discussed in the Slayer's Handbook states specifically that the Slayer is not to reveal her identity to **anyone** , to say nothing of having any emotional attachments, for danger of any unnecessary harm coming to the people around her."

"It's too late for that, Giles!" argued the Slayer. "As I told you already, I love Xander!" Realizing what she had just announced for the entire world, and Xander, to hear, she immediately backtracked. "He's my best friend! That's a bit more than an 'emotional attachment', don't you think?" The Watcher's response, a simple look of resigned agreement, did little to stop Willow's tirade. "I'm not letting go of my friends, case closed, and I'm not letting go of Xander. Ever. And if you can't deal with that, then I guess you need to find yourself another girl to be the Slayer, because I quit." Turning to her friend, the Slayer said, "Come on, Xander, let's go home," before storming away from the perplexed Watcher furiously.


	4. Chapter 4

Willow walked up to Jesse, who was (as usual) trailing Cordelia, and tapped on his shoulder. "Hey, Jesse, have you seen Xander?"

"Yeah, I did. He-" Jesse turned around and went into shock as he saw Willow. Not only was she wearing makeup, but she had a blouse and a short skirt on. Jesse looked down and saw that Willow was even wearing high heels, a first for her. Simply put, she was dressed to kill. "Wow, Willow," declared Jesse after finding his voice again, "you look almost as good as Cordelia."

"Gee...thanks," replied the Slayer sullenly, not very comfortable with her friend's idea of a good compliment. "So, where's Xander?"

Jesse was again lusting after the Great Bitch Queen of Sunnydale, and barely acknowledged Willow's inquiry, until she glared at him. "Oh, I thought you had already seen him once I saw you, seeing as how he was totally out of it."

"Really?" beamed Willow. "You thought Xander had noticed me?"

"Let's hope not," sneered Cordelia, as she walked up to Willow and Jesse. "There's nothing more sickening than two geeks in love."

"At least I can fall in love," answered Willow icily. "Seeing as how I have this thing called a 'heart'. It's something that only people have."

"Ooh," taunted the cheerleader to her flock. "Little Willow's grown herself a backbone. What is the world coming to?"

"Well, it's about time someone did the world a favor and let you know how much of **bitch** you are," hissed Willow as she turned to leave.

"Hey!" whined Cordy as she placed a hand on Willow's shoulder. "I'm not through with you yet!"

"Well, I am," replied Willow as she grabbed onto Cordelia's arm, and instinctively flipped her to the ground, stunning everyone who saw the move.

"Oh, you are **so** going to pay for that," declared Cordelia as she began to rise.

"With what," asked Willow, "your biting commentary?" The Slayer smiled darkly at her opponent as she warned, "If you know what's good for you, Cordelia, you'll leave me and my friends alone from now on." No one said anything as Willow left; there was time for gossip later. Now was the time to stare.

Escaping the chaos behind her, Willow spotted Xander and ran over to him. "Hey Xand," she replied, trying to act as cheerful as possible.

Xander didn't bother to look at his friend; instead, he found his feet more interesting. "Hi Will," he murmured.

"Is something wrong?" asked the Slayer with growing worry.

"Not really," came the pensive response from Xander. "Just thinking about stuff."

"Yeah," agreed Willow. "I've been doing that a lot lately, myself. Finding out that I'm the Chosen One, destined to fight evil-it's kinda disturbing."

"Didn't stop you from tossing Cordy around," said Xander with a sly grin on his face. "You're a naughty girl, Will."

"Well, she deserved it," she responded in her own defense. "Besides, it was kind of fun. Except for the rush of power thing."

"How so?"

"I **enjoyed** threatening her, Xander," affirmed Willow, almost afraid of herself as she spoke. "I can't let that happen again-ever."

"So," noted the boy, "does this mean you're going to be sucking up to Giles today?"

"Exactly." Changing the subject, Willow asked Xander with a hopeful glint in her eye, "So, have you noticed anything different about me today?"

Xander looked over at his friend, and immediately noticed the difference. "Will, you look...I mean..." Instead of finishing the thought, Xander grabbed the Slayer, bringing her into his arms in a passionate embrace, kissing her with everything he had. Willow melted into his arms as the kiss continued, not caring about the stares they were drawing from the students around them, until....

* * *

 

"Xander?"

Xander left his fantasy world with a start as he fumbled for an answer to the question before him. "What? Oh, uh, Willow...did you change your hair or something?"

Willow frowned openly as the bell rang. "Guess it's time for class. See you in chemistry?"

"Yes," whispered Xander throatily. "We have chemistry." Quickly covering, he added, "We have it together. The class. And I'll see you there, after the class I don't have with you." Willow sighed as Xander left, wishing once again for chemistry of the non-educational kind between her and her best friend, just as Xander was trying desperately to shake the attraction that was growing in his heart.

* * *

 

Deep beneath Sunnydale High, things were as active below ground as they were above it. However, the intentions below were far more sinister in nature.

A number of figures stood around a large pool of blood in the midst of a most profane ceremony. These figures, parted like the Red Sea as a burly man came to the fore. Or the figure was once a man, like the other people there. Now, he was a soulless demon, a vampire, and he kneeled before the pool and began chanting.

"The sleeper shall awaken, and the world shall bleed. The sleeper shall awaken, and the world shall bleed." Looking up at the cross above their heads, the vampire smiled hungrily as he finished his prayer. "The sleeper shall awaken, and the world shall bleed...Amen."


	5. Chapter 5

Slowly rising from the pool of blood was a horrible, unholy figure. Shaped like a man and dressed entirely in black leather, this creature had bat-like features, and was in general an unpleasant and horrible looking creature. "I take it you have news for me?"

"Yes, Master," answered the kneeling vampire. "There is a new Slayer…..and she is here in Sunnydale."

"And have you seen this new Slayer, Luke?"

"I have not," replied Luke, "but Darla has faced her."

"Interesting," said the Master contemplatively. "And what have you to say, Darla?"

"She is strong," declared the blonde vampire, "but untrained and undisciplined. And she is in love with a miserable little whelp."

"A Slayer in love?" mused the Master. "How….fascinating. Does the Slayer have a name?"

"She's called Willow," answered Darla, "and the boy is called Xander."

"The boy is of no interest to me," snarled the Master, "unless we can use the Slayer's affection for him against her. What I'm concerned about is the Harvest. Do you think she will be able to stop it?"

Confidently, Darla replied, "Only if she finds out about it. And even then, she lacks experience."

"Good," said the Master with an acidic grin on his evil face. "But still, we must make sure she is properly distracted. Perhaps this boyfriend of hers, or someone else close to her, can be targeted."

"I'm sure I can think of something," grinned the blonde vampire evilly.

* * *

 

"Miss Rosenberg!" scolded Willow and Xander's chemistry teacher, Dr. Gregory, for what seemed like the millionth time that period. The two had been constantly taking more of an interest in their own growing personal chemistry than that of the lecture at hand. If today had been a lab day, they would probably have already blown up the school.

"Sorry!" answered the Slayer, repeating an equally common refrain.

"I suggest you leave chasing boys for some time other than during my class." Willow and Xander blushed furiously, enough to match the dark red locks of her hair. More importantly, it was yet another thing for Willow's classmates to gossip about as they regarded her increasingly strange and erratic behavior. (That Cordelia was present for this incident as well only further insured the redhead's growing infamy.)

"Now that we have your attention, Miss Rosenberg, would you mind completing the equation for the rest of the class?"

Now this was something that Willow could handle. After standing up and straightening her blouse, Willow walked up to the chalkboard with a shaky confidence, and easily completed the equation before her. Dr. Gregory, like most at Sunnydale High, had long since become used to Willow being ahead of the curve, and kept a perfect poker face as the Slayer asked brightly, "Is there anything else, Dr. Gregory?"

Before the kindly, white-haired teacher could respond, the end-of-period bell rang loudly and far too conveniently. Willow went to the hall as everyone else gathered their things, and waited dutifully for Xander, who faithfully (at the expense of his masculinity) emerged from class with Willow's book bag draped around his shoulder. "So, are you headed to the library for some hardcore groveling action?"

Accepting her book bag, Willow said, "I might as well get it out of the way. Maybe if I'm lucky he'll still let me go out tonight for, you know….." The left of the sentence was left unfinished, but Willow's blush told the rest of the story.

Xander's heart skipped a few beats before saying, "D-do you n-need me…..?"

"No, I'll be OK," answered Willow with a nervous smile. "I mean, he's just a librarian, right? How scary could he possibly be?"

"Yeah," agreed Xander with a nervous smile of his own, "I guess you're-"

"What?!" shouted the unmistakable voice of Cordelia Chase in the distance. "Who would stick a **body** in Aura's locker?"

Willow and Xander shared a frightened, knowing look as they rushed over to Cordelia and the near-hysterical redheaded Cordette she was speaking to. "Who died?"

"Who cares?!" asked the Cordette. "Aura's in shock, and all this stress is going to make me break out in hives, and you're worried about some creepy dead guy?"

" **Homework** gives you hives, Aphrodesia," fired back Xander sarcastically.

"So, uh, how did he die?" asked Willow, hoping for a mundane cause of death.

"I don't know," answered Aphrodesia with a heaping load of sass. "He was like, **dead**!"

"Were there any marks on him?"

Aphrodesia looked at Willow as if she had grown an extra head. "Like I'm going to check out some dead guy!"

"Who even asked you two losers to join this conversation, anyways?" Despite being as cruel as ever, there was just enough of a hint of fear in Cordelia's voice to make both Willow and Xander's mouths curl into the slightest of smiles. "For all we know, it was you two that killed him."

Willow was annoyed at the accusation as she told Cordelia, "Remember our little 'chat' about compassion? I'm trying to show some here." Not wanting to belabor the point any further, Willow simply shared a look with Xander before taking off for the girls' locker room.

"See what I mean, Aphrodesia?" whined Cordelia. "Rosenberg grows a spine, and it goes right to her head."

* * *

 

Willow arrived at the locker room just in time to see Principal Flutie surreptitiously closing the door. As usual, he looked stressed beyond belief, and he literally jumped as he turned and saw the concerned face of one of his students. "Oh! Miss Rosenberg!" With a suspicious note to his voice, he added, "Uh, what do you want?"

"Is it true that there's someone dead in the locker room?"

"Where did you hear that?" asked Principal Flutie nervously before relenting. "OK. Yes." And without even the slightest hint of irony he added, "But he's not a student! Not Currently."

"Do you know how he died?" asked Willow in a hopeful tone of voice that Flutie found to be disconcerting.

"What?"

Covering for herself, Willow said, "What I mean is, how could something awful like this have possibly happen?" Her facial expression, which alternated between gritting her teeth out of frustration and smiling nervously, made the lie painfully obvious.

However, Principal Flutie was seemingly unfazed as he explained, "Well, that's for the police to determine when they get here. But this structure is safe, we have inspections, and I think there's no grounds for a lawsuit."

"Was there a lot of blood?" asked Willow hopefully. After getting no answer, she asked with far less optimism, she asked, "Was there any blood?"

"I would think you wouldn't want to involve yourself in this kind of thing," replied Principal Flutie.

Willow felt a chill run down her spine as she realized that she didn't have a choice in the matter. With her hands balled into tight fists and her head bowed, she whispered, "I don't want to," before asking out loud with her bravest voice, "Can I take just a little peek?"

With a skeptical eye, the principal continued his previous thought. "Unless you already **are** involved…."

More nervous than ever, Willow backed off and said, "Never mind!"

Flutie showed some legitimate sympathy as he told Willow, "Look, I understand this is confusing. You're probably feeling a lot right now. You should share those feelings." However, that real concern was quickly wiped away when he added, "With someone else."

"O-OK," answered Willow warily before leaving.

* * *

 

Unbeknownst to Principal Flutie, Willow just started to circle around the building, eventually coming to another set of doors. Which was locked. After looking around to make sure there was no one around, pulled the door open, leaving the lock and parts of both doors in ruins. (The action startled Willow so much that she jumped with a squeak as the doors shattered.) And with another anxious look around, she slipped inside.

Inside, the body was covered with a blanket, and lying on the bench that was between rows of lockers. No one was around, and there was no sign that anyone had even bothered to investigate the apparent murder. Gingerly, Willow lifted the blanket.

The Slayer gasped at the first dead person she had ever seen first hand. (Dead dead, not walking around vampire dead.) But she had a job to do, so all of the fear and revulsion she felt needed to wait. So Willow tilted the man's head and checked his neck…..and found two bite marks on his neck.

The man had been drained of his blood.

After checking for signs that he had been turned (luckily, he hadn't), Willow's resolve finally broke as the reality sank in: this was her life now. Not school, or her parents, or even Xander. No, Willow was the Slayer, and this meant more dead bodies, more killing, and most importantly, more **death**.

And it was the absolute last thing in the world that she wanted.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't let my silence fool you: I've been writing, but wildly out of order on all my stories (including a huge twist for the future of this story), plus a couple projects that I'm going to be sitting on for a while.

Looking defeated, Willow entered the library to find Xander lounging at the study table with an extraordinarily huge book in front of him, and Giles standing at the checkout counter looking exasperated. “Willow, I suppose-“

“They found a dead guy in a locker.”

“Yes,” replied Giles. “Word has spread across the school.”

“If there’s one thing Cordelia can do well, it’s spread gossip,” agreed Xander.

Willow stopped in the middle of the room and announced in a sullen voice, “There was a dead body, and I had to make sure he wouldn’t become a vampire.”

“And?” asked Giles.

“…….No,” announced Willow as she sat down next to Xander. “He was just drained.”

“So why leave the body here?” asked Xander. “Wouldn’t it make sense to dump it where no one can find it?”

“This wasn’t a coincidence,” answered the Watcher. “Something is on the verge of happening here in Sunnydale.”

“I’m guessing that’s a bad thing,” said Willow in a sad voice. More directly to Giles, she asked, “It **is** a bad thing…..right?”

“I’m afraid so, yes,” he admitted. “However, it’s not entirely unexpected.”

"You realize this is Sunnydale, right?" asked Xander. "Calling it a one-Starbucks town is an insult to one-Starbucks towns."

"Dig a bit into the history of this place and you'll find there've been a stream of fairly odd occurrences," continued Giles with increasing excitement in his voice. "I believe this area is a center of mystical energy. Things gravitate toward it that you might not find elsewhere."

“Ooh!” shouted Willow excitedly as her hand shot up in the air. “Like vampires!” Xander just looked at her with a rather cold expression, which deflated her enthusiasm entirely. “Right?”

Giles leaned over the counter and produced a pile of books, which he started placing on the table in front of the two teens as he announced breathlessly, “Like werewolves. Zombies. Succubi, incubi….Everything you ever dreaded under your bed and told yourself couldn’t be by the light of day.”

“What,” asked Xander sarcastically, “did you send away for the Time Life series?”

Willow gave her best friend a dirty look, but neither he nor Giles reacted to it. instead, the librarian admitted sheepishly, “Uh, yes.”

“Did you get the free phone?” asked Willow in a naively hopeful tone of voice.

In a low voice, Giles admitted, “The calendar.”

“Cool.”

“So,” asked Willow, “what does it mean?”

“It’s getting worse.”

“ **Worse**?!” shouted Willow and Xander simultaneously.

“Yes,” affirmed the Watcher. “The influx of the undead, the supernatural occurrences. It’s been building for years and now…..There’s a reason why you’ve been called, Willow. Something is going to happen here soon.”

“How soon?” asked Willow. Looking nervously at Xander, she added quietly, “I sort of have plans tonight, you know.”

Giles blanched at the prospect of his Slayer shirking her duty……for a date. (And with Xander, no less.) “As far as I can tell, the signs point to a crucial mystical upheaval very soon-days, possibly less.”

The Slayer and her best friend shared a look of pure dread. This was nowhere near what they had expected would happen today. They sat there silently for a good, long while until Xander spoke for the both of them.

“Um…..yay?”


End file.
